The Chargers front seven is nasty. I’m talking foot fungus nasty. The kind of thing you see on Tosh.0 and cringe nasty. Pure, unadulterated filth. With a combination of high draft picks with speed and athleticism, the veteran know-how of Linebackers Shaun Phillips, Takeo Spikes and Jarret Johnson, and the hard-hitting leadership of Donald Butler the Chargers have made life difficult for opposing offensive lines, specifically in the run game. The Chargers have only given up 74 yards on the ground (5th in the league) and 3.7 yards per carry, and they have not been feasting on the Shonne Green’s of the world. They have shut down Darren McFadden, Chris Johnson, Michael Turner, Jamal Charles and New Orleans multi-faceted attack, flying all over the field and producing big plays.

If the Chargers can make the Broncos offense one-dimensional, Denver will be in trouble. The Broncos need to keep the ball away from a fired up San Diego squad in front of a raucous Monday Night San Diego crowd in America’s Finest city, and usually the best way to do so is to run the ball. If they cannot, the Chargers will be sure to take advantage by grabbing hold of an early lead. This will force the Broncos to almost exclusively pass to get the chunks of yards needed to keep up with San Diego.

Peyton can dink and dunk the Chargers all he wants, but with sure tacklers Eric Weddle and Quentin Jammer anchoring the secondary, counting on YAC is not the best way to put up points. This Chargers team can be had deep, but unfortunately that is not Manning’s forte (at least this decade). The Chargers should be able to grab an early lead they can build upon throughout the game, then end it with steady running from Ryan Mathews and Jackie Battle.